LA Government Regulates a Business Out of Existence

[Night Strike]

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

[_sabotage_]

Any idea what will be replacing it?

Guess: Liquor store, gun shop or big chain restaurant.

[AndyDufresne]

I think its about time to rise up with me, Night Strike. We can't let our apocalypse preparedness be all for naught.


--Andy

[Symmetry]

Any idea what will be replacing it?

Guess: Liquor store, gun shop or big chain restaurant.

Hopefully a Los Pollos Hermanos, although they've been getting kind of a bad break recently from what I've seen on TV.

[AAFitz]

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

Little companies getting pushed out by government often have the backing of multinational corporations, if not directly, then through PACs and other bullshit donations made possible by your GOP.

I personally hope he has grounds for a lawsuit, and possibly does, if they treated other, similar businesses differently.

Its only speculative to suggest other motives, but it definitely wouldn't be the first time.

[PLAYER57832]

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

Little companies getting pushed out by government often have the backing of multinational corporations, if not directly, then through PACs and other bullshit donations made possible by your GOP.

I personally hope he has grounds for a lawsuit, and possibly does, if they treated other, similar businesses differently.

Its only speculative to suggest other motives, but it definitely wouldn't be the first time.

Exactly, somehow I doubt similar requirements have been imposed on McDonald's.

But, also.. I wonder if there isn't more to this story than is posted.



A Tad suspicious. I went through 4 pages of listings, got lots of reviews, a lot saying that the food was good, but service terrible. (that might provide a big hint as to why it closed, by-the-way)

I found only 2 articles. The above article, repeated several times, and one on this Reason.com -- a decidedly not just liberaterian, but anti governement site.
http://reason.com/reasontv/2012/12/20/t ... lated-a-bu


As I said above, reading the reviews gave me a hint that there might well have been more to this closing than described. Three stars and a a lot of comments along the lines of "good tasting food, but very greasy", "very poor service", "would not eat there if it weren't convenient", etc., lead me to think these are why the store closed.

[AAFitz]

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

Little companies getting pushed out by government often have the backing of multinational corporations, if not directly, then through PACs and other bullshit donations made possible by your GOP.

I personally hope he has grounds for a lawsuit, and possibly does, if they treated other, similar businesses differently.

Its only speculative to suggest other motives, but it definitely wouldn't be the first time.

Exactly, somehow I doubt similar requirements have been imposed on McDonald's.

But, also.. I wonder if there isn't more to this story than is posted.



A Tad suspicious. I went through 4 pages of listings, got lots of reviews, a lot saying that the food was good, but service terrible. (that might provide a big hint as to why it closed, by-the-way)

I found only 2 articles. The above article, repeated several times, and one on this Reason.com -- a decidedly not just liberaterian, but anti governement site.
http://reason.com/reasontv/2012/12/20/t ... lated-a-bu


As I said above, reading the reviews gave me a hint that there might well have been more to this closing than described. Three stars and a a lot of comments along the lines of "good tasting food, but very greasy", "very poor service", "would not eat there if it weren't convenient", etc., lead me to think these are why the store closed.

No no... hostess was closed by the unions, it had nothing to do with mismanagement and an obsolete product line, just as a piss poor restaurant cant possibly be responsible for its own failure, it must have been the government.

Funny how he only believes in the free market when its convenient.

[notyou2]

Just another case of the government supporting big business at the expense of little businesses and the average joe. I blame the Repugnatants.

[2dimes]

Worst part? He probably can't afford to relocate.

[AAFitz]

Worst part? He probably can't afford to relocate.

Given his reviews that may be better for everyone.

[john9blue]

are you fucking serious?

you realize people are far more likely to go leave a review if they had a bad time, right? vocal minority? you don't understand human psychology.

[AAFitz]

are you fucking serious?

you realize people are far more likely to go leave a review if they had a bad time, right? vocal minority? you don't understand human psychology.

the ratio is around 3 good reviews for 27 bad ones or more specifically, people are 9 times more likely to leave a bad review...but that doesn't mean that individual reviews are false, or baseless, per-se.

But no, I really wasn't being serious, fucking or otherwise.

[john9blue]

i think you were being serious. i would not put it above you to try and make excuses for blatantly unfair liberal tyranny based on HOW GOOD THE FOOD WAS AT THE RESTAURANT.

but hey, if i put it in those terms it sounds stupid, and you can pretend to be kidding so you don't have to take responsibility for your actions.

nothing you people do surprises me anymore. idiocy is everywhere.

[AAFitz]

i think you were being serious. i would not put it above you to try and make excuses for blatantly unfair liberal tyranny based on HOW GOOD THE FOOD WAS AT THE RESTAURANT.

but hey, if i put it in those terms it sounds stupid, and you can pretend to be kidding so you don't have to take responsibility for your actions.

nothing you people do surprises me anymore. idiocy is everywhere.

I'm not making excuses. I was making a joke, and honestly its a deadpan sarcastic response, of which I can show you possibly 6000... no 10000 more examples in this forum of me doing.

What does sound stupid is you accusing me of lying, on a statement that is so ridiculous that it should be obvious its joking.

Its you that is not accepting your responsibility of missing the joke, and going onto a wild accusation of me because of it.

You, in fact, have proven, idiocy is closer to you, than you even realized. Surprise, surprise!

Now, its time to take responsibility for your 'actions' and just apologize for being a jackass, cuz it was a joke and 'me and my people' can see you are trying to just cover the fact that you missed it 100% and responded like a psycho.

Don't let your hate get the best of you in the future. It would be a shame if you lost your sense of humor altogether.

[john9blue]

i've seen far too many people unable to admit they were wrong write off their previous posts as a "joke"

forgive me if i'm not so quick to apologize for thinking you were being serious.

[AAFitz]

i've seen far too many people unable to admit they were wrong write off their previous posts as a "joke"

forgive me if i'm not so quick to apologize for thinking you were being serious.

well unlike you, I embrace the power of forgiveness, so you are forgiven for the many mistakes Ive seen you make, including missing such an obvious joke.

And, if you still dont see that for the joke it was, I think its likely that many of those other people really were joking too, and you are in a more dire need of a sense of humor, than any man in history.

Thats a joke too...its a loose paraphrase from "good morning vietnam".

Have a good holiday man...lighten up.

[PLAYER57832]

Worst part? He probably can't afford to relocate.

Uh, given that this was store #6, It looks like this was a chain, albiet a small one... and this particular one had a lot of poor reviews.